The RevJerryTroyer's Podcast

Can We Talk To God?

Burden, Blessing Or Bye

Earlier this week, I packed up and put away the Christmas decorations.  I went through the boxes, throwing away the ornaments that were cracked, broken, or just didn't look right anymore/  That made more room in the storage container, thank goodness, because we picked up a few new things this year.

On Sunday, December 28, I talked about what we are carrying with us into the new year--possessions, but also (and even especially) memories, beliefs, hurts and other "stuff" that may no longer serve us.  In the wonderful book "Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Good Life," Richard Leider and David Shapiro state, "Repacking, then, is the ongoing activity of reevaluation and reinvention.  Rearranging our priorities.  Reframing our vision of the good life.  And recovering a new sense of being alive.  It is a process we must go through over and over in order to keep growing, and changing, in order to keep from falling into patterns that not only don't get us where we are going, but which actually hold us back from where we want to be."

What have you carried with you into the new year that you are ready to toss?  What situations in your life could you change your story about, moving them from burden to blessing?

Being True To Myself

In the book, Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love, Stephanie Dowrick reminds us that "the self is the source of our freedom. It is the place from which we make all our choices. It is the place from which we create the truth that is our own life."

What does it mean to be true to our self? And to our Self? Click on the link below to hear more.

Being My Own Valentine

I trust that you and yours had a wonderful Valentines Day. Tradition invites us to honor and celebrate our relationship with someone else on this day, but what about our relationship with ourselves? Could we be our own valentine? 

Being Home For Christmas

You probably remember hearing the song, "I'll Be Home for Christmas."  It was recorded by Bing Crosby in 1943, in honor of the soldiers away from home, fighting in World War II.

Consider the experience of "home."  The song refers to a specific place, with "snow and mistletoe, and presents on the tree."  But I would suggest that "home" is more of a place of consciousness--that place where we are when we are feeling safe, secure and loved.  It could be in our physical house, but it could, and should, be when we are standing in line at Costco, or stopped in traffic.

As A Little Child

By now, the cherubim and seraphim who celebrate Christmas around the world, and in your life, have done their thing with all the treasures “Santa” left. The adults connected to said cherubs are probably relieved, and exhausted.

It is “the most wonderful time of the year.” It is also the busiest, at least in my life. There is the temptation to go racing through the month of December, head down, with joyful anticipation only of January 2, when we are done for another year. But what wonderful experiences do we miss out on if we don’t allow ourselves to be “as a little child”?

You remember the quote from the New Testament—unless you become as a little child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. That’s childlike, not childish.

So how do children “do” life, and what lessons can we mature adults learn from them—during the December holidays and throughout the year?

Another Look At Intention

My definition of the word intention has to do with absolute dedication and determination. It sounds so much more powerful than words like hope, plan, try, dream, etc.

But in the book, The Power of Intention, Dr. Wayne Dyer quotes Carlos Castaneda: "intent is a force that exists in the Universe. When sorcerers (those who live of the Source) beckon intent, it comes to them and sets up the path for attainment, which means that sorcerers always accomplish what they set out to do."

There goes my interpretation of the word Sorcerer. But doesn't that new definition feel good? So a sorcerer is not just some really old guy in a pointed hat--it is me, when I remember than Spirit (God, the Universe, my Higher Power) is the source of and for all my good.

2015: A Year of Celebration

If you were with me last Sunday, you know that we kicked off 2015 with our sacred White Stone Ritual.  We listened for our inner guidance and gave ourselves a "new name" with a spirit of celebration.

Celebration is wonderful--do we allow ourselves to experience it often and frequently, or save it for just major holidays?  I shared a quote from "Hapacus:  The Science of Happiness:" negative emotions play a role in narrowing our thoughts.  When we are angry (and I added hurt, resentful, regretful, fearful), we develop a tunnel vision that blocks out other options we might have considered had we not been so narrowly focused.  Positive emotions, on the other hand, play a role in broadening and expanding our thinking.  When we are happy (and celebrating) our minds become open to new and creative solutions."  So celebration gives us more reasons to celebrate!

A Personal Epiphany

As you may know, last Friday, January 6, was the celebration of Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas.

The word Epiphany means to reveal. This particular day was the day that the wise men found Jesus. Consider their experience. They went to King Herod, and asked where Jesus was (and you may recall that Herod wasn't especially thrilled). They watched and followed the star. The point is that their epiphany was an active process. They didn't just go sit in their tents and watch football until someone brought them the news.

So it is with us. Jesus reminded us that for us to receive, we need to ask, seek, or knock. Just sitting in the corner and hoping for whatever it is won't do it. Our manifestation may not require physical work on our part, but we must at least make the decision on what it is we wish to experience, and then do our affirmation prayer.

A Foundation of Joy

You might remember the song that many of us used to sing in Sunday School. “The foolish man built his house upon the sand, and the rains came tumbling down…The rains came down as the floods came up…and the house on the sand went splat.” (I always loved that verse because we yelled the word “splat” and clapped our hands together for effect.) But, “the wise man built his house upon a rock, and the rains came tumbling down…The rains came down and the floods came up…and the house on the rock stood firm.”

Over the last few years we have experienced changes in what we thought were foundations. America almost got out of the automobile business with GM and Chrysler coming close to closing the doors. Bank of America’s stock went down to a couple of dollars a share or even lower. Many people lost jobs that they thought they would retire from, and houses they thought they would be in forever.

Many of us in our spiritual community have experienced the loss of a dear one. Often people leave us before we are ready to let them go. Or a dear one goes through a change in health condition, and we have the face the future knowing that life will never be the same again.

How do we get through this? By calling on our foundation of joy—joy being the continuous awareness of our oneness with Spirit (God, the Universe, our higher power). The “house,” in this case being our physical being, will stand firm in the knowingness that we never walk alone.